“Joe Biden’s two big spending proposals (one on infrastructure and one on social programs), combined with the ‘COVID relief’ package he already passed, amount to $5.95 trillion in new spending…

“The 2020 Census found 331,449,281 people in the United States — including children. Biden’s spending, if passed, would amount to $17,951.46 for every man, woman, and child in the country. The most recent Census estimate puts the number of U.S. households around 128,451,000 (that’s 2.58 persons per household, if you’re keeping score). Biden’s new spending — remember, this is in addition to the existing federal, state, and local budgets — comes to $46,321.17 for each and every household in the United States. That is over 70 percent of median household income. Biden wants to blow through 70 percent of the typical family’s annual income just in spending proposed in his first 100 days in office.”
Dan McLaughlin, National Review

“Beyond being strictly partisan, proposals that call for large government program expansions like the president’s also run counter to public sentiment. Our survey showed that 55 percent of working-age adults were somewhat or very concerned that the pandemic would lead to permanent expansions of the government, while 52 percent had little or no confidence that the federal government would do what was right for the American people over the next six months. More than ever, this suggests that the best path forward involves policies that gain support from both sides of the aisle…

“When it comes to childcare assistance and paid leave, there is plenty of interest on both sides of the aisle to find commonsense solutions. Let’s hope President Biden’s administration will look to both Democrats and Republicans when developing solutions to help American Families.”
Angela Rachidi, American Enterprise Institute

Regarding the tax increases, many note that “A capital-gains tax is a second tax on corporate income. A neutral revenue code would tax all income only once. But the U.S. also taxes business profits when they are earned, and President Biden wants to raise that tax rate by a third (to 28% from 21%). When a business distributes after-tax income in dividends, or an investor sells the shares that have risen in value due to higher earnings, the income is taxed a second time…

“No less a progressive than Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler recently deplored the unfairness of ‘double taxation’ [regarding the state] and local tax deduction, though he probably had no idea he was stating a principle that really applies to corporate income and capital gains…

“[But] The most important reason to tax capital investment at low rates is to encourage saving and investment. Consumption—buying a car or yacht—faces a sales tax but not a federal tax. But if someone saves income and invests in the family business or in stock, he is smacked with another round of tax. Tax something more and you get less of it. Tax capital income more, and you get less investment, which means less investment to improve worker productivity.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

“Since capital gains are also subject to the 3.8% Medicare tax, the new capital-gains rate would be 43.4%. What makes this unusual is that 43.4% is well above the rate that would generate the most revenue for the government. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, which does the official scoring and is no den of supply siders, puts the revenue-maximizing rate at 28%. My work several decades ago puts it about 10 points lower than that. That means President Biden is willing to accept lower revenue as the price of higher tax rates…

“It is shocking that this policy got past the economists in the administration, many of whom have had long and distinguished careers. The Biden administration is blowing up one of the key concepts that has united the economics profession: maximizing social welfare. It now believes in taxation purely as a form of punishment and is even willing to sacrifice revenue to carry it out.”
Lawrence B. Lindsey, Wall Street Journal